ADOPTING MS WORD-PDF-COREL MODEL FOR DESIGN AND PRODUCTION OF PRINT AND ONLINE ACADEMIC JOURNALS

Abstract

Academic journal, also known as scholarly journal is a periodic publication in which research articles of certain disciplines are published. It is a medium of research discussions. Findings of research made by scholars are published therein. While some are focused on certain areas, others are multidisciplinary. Academic journals aid in dissemination of knowledge. Governments of countries are meant to adopt findings in academic journals in making policies for the industry, education and other sectors. However, in Nigerian milieu, it is not the case. Hard Journals are in book forms, varying in end sizes such as A4, A5, Executive or Letter dimensions, while soft journals are ones uploaded and indexed online. Journals have editorial policies which the contributors must strictly abide by. Laying out journal pages is usually a rigorous process because there needs to be consistency in page arrangement, typography, margin settings, and line spacing, otherwise it will lack professionalism. With the advent of the internet, Academic papers are now required to be published and hoisted on websites for fast and easy perusal throughout the world. One of the prerequisites of University lecturers’ appraisal and promotion to higher ranks is publication of wellresearched articles in academic journals, more especially ones with high impact factors. Thus, there is mad rush and desperation towards contribution, publication and uploading of papers for appraisal. This paper focused on design experiment using three-faced process of laying out hard and soft copies of journals using Microsoft Word, Converting the files to PDF and laying out on CorelDraw for hard copy printing and binding. Descriptive analysis was applied for the discourse, using screenshots of work procedures. This process, if adopted by visualisers who specialize in Book Design and production, will assist the lecturers to beat time factor in appraisal and also produce world-class journals.